Battle of the Holme

The Battle of the Holme was fought on 13 December 902 during the Viking invasions of England. The army of the Danelaw won a pyrrhic victory in which its leaders Aethelwold Aetheling and King Eohric of East Anglia were killed in battle with Wessex' Kentish vassals.

Background
Following the death of Alfred the Great in 899, his son Edward the Elder succeeded him as King of Wessex, but his nephew Aethelwold Aetheling staked his own claim on the throne. He fled to Northumbria, where the Viking rulers of the Danelaw were happy to provide him with troops to defeat their old enemy of Wessex. In 902, Aethelwold came with a fleet to Essex and persuaded the East Anglian Danes under King Eohric of East Anglia to attack Mercia and north Wessex. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, and the Danish army was forced to return to defend its own territory. Edward then retreated, but his Kentish vassals refused to retreat and engaged the Danes in battle at the Holme.

Battle
In the ensuing battle, the Danes were said to have kept the place of slaughter (even killing the Kentish ealdorman Sigehelm, although they suffered the loss of both Aethelwold and Eohric. The battle thus ended Aethelwold's revolt, and King Edward was secure as the King of Wessex.